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Fermentation Atlas

Cheese from Italy, Lazio

Caciocavallo di Supino

Raw cow milk from Ciociaria farms is set with calf paste rennet at 36–38 °C. The curd is broken to hazelnut size and left under the whey for 4–10 hours until it can be stretched. It is spun by hand in boiling water, shaped into an oval with a round head, brined, tied, and ripened hanging in pairs from poles for at least 15 days. Made in 8 steps over 15 days – 16 days. The longest step, ripen hanging from poles, takes at least 15 days (ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultura…). Lactic bacteria of the raw milk, which sour the curd under the whey does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 15 daysSet[arsial-supino]Ripen hanging from poles
Temperature36–38 °CSet[arsial-supino]Set with calf paste rennet
Fully documentedCheese15 days – 16 daysTraditional food product (PAT, Lazio)Family: Pasta filata (stretched-curd) cheese familyMore stretched-curd cheesesMore from Italy

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe sheet gives temperatures and times but no batch size. ONAF gives a cheese of about 0.4 kg.
Raw cow milk from two milkings · From Ciociaria farms; mixed and filtered through cloth[arsial-supino][onaf-sheet]
Calf paste rennet[arsial-supino]
Salt (brine)[arsial-supino]
Starter: none; the curd sours under its own whey

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 16 days

Start
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What changes: Starting material: raw cow milk from two milkings, filtered through cloth

Step 1 of 8
Collect the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: raw cow milk from two milkings.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

A small raw-milk cow caciocavallo from one Ciociaria town. The curd sours under its own whey for 4–10 hours before stretching, with no starter added.

Rind
Thin, smooth, straw-yellow
Size
About 0.4 kg and 10 cm high (ONAF); oval with a round head

Related ferments

Safety

Made from raw milk and ripened at least 15 days. The Lazio list marks it as allowed to use derogations from the standard hygiene rules for its traditional methods.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The ARSIAL sheet dates the cheese to the early 1800s. Craft production in Supino is recorded from 1940, when one maker began cheesemaking in an old brick kiln with a copper cauldron (the callaro) to heat the milk. The name comes from the habit of hanging the cheeses in pairs astride wooden poles.

  1. [arsial-supino] ARSIAL (Lazio regional agency for agricultural development), Lazio patrimonio agroalimentare, tra biodiversità e tradizione, PAT sheet 'Caciocavallo di Supino', p. 152gov
  2. [pat-lazio] Regione Lazio and ARSIAL, PAT Lazio 2026, Lazio section of the national list of traditional agri-food products (law 238/2016, art. 12), no. 88 'Caciocavallo di Supino*' (* = hygiene derogation)gov
  3. [onaf-sheet] ONAF (national organisation of cheese tasters), technical sheet 'Caciocavallo di Supino'web